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CPA Profession Wins With New Members; Important Changes to Committees

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Editor’s
note: This report was compiled by the AICPA Congressional and
Political Affairs Team

All
five CPAs won their re-election bids and three additional CPAs were
added to the House in Tuesday’s congressional elections. Republican
Reps. John Campbell of California, Michael Conaway of Texas and Lynn
Jenkins of Kansas and Democratic Reps. Collin Peterson of Minnesota
and Brad Sherman of California will each return for new
terms. Additionally, Steven Palazzo, a Mississippi Republican,
defeated 11-term Democratic Rep. Gene Taylor in that state’s 4th
District. Jim Renacci, an Ohio Republican, defeated freshman
Democratic Rep. John Boccieri in that state’s 16th District. And
Bill Flores, a Republican, defeated veteran Democratic Rep. Chet
Edwards in Texas' 17th District.

Importantly,
because the House will be controlled by Republicans, the Financial
Services Committee is likely be led by Rep. Spencer Bachus of
Alabama, the current ranking Republican member. If the committee
ratios remain the same, at least 46% of the committee will be new
Republican members.

Current
Chairman Barney Frank, a Massachusetts Democrat, was re-elected and
will likely assume the ranking member slot. Also of note, Rep. Scott
Garrett, a New Jersey Republican, will most likely be the Capital
Markets Subcommittee chairman. Lastly, because the current
Democratic chairman of the Capital Markets Subcommittee, Paul
Kanjorski of Pennsylvania, lost his re-election, that subcommittee
will have a new ranking member on the Democratic side.

Although
the Senate remains in Democratic hands, with the retirement of
Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd, a Connecticut Democrat, it is
expected that Sen. Tim Johnson of South Dakota, the next highest
ranking Democrat, will be selected for that post. Sen. Richard
Shelby, an Alabama Republican, was easily re-elected and will be
returning as the ranking member. There will also be several new
Democratic and Republican members on the committee, depending on
committee ratios.

The
House Ways and Means Committee will see a number of changes
resulting from the shift to Republican control. Rep. Dave Camp, a
Michigan Republican, will presumably lead the panel, but a contested
race between Democratic Reps. Sander Levin of Michigan and Richard
Neal of Massachusetts for the ranking Democratic member slot is
probable. Because the Ways and Means Committee has grown in size in
recent years, a key question is whether the speaker-elect will
decide to reduce the number of seats rather than populating the
empty seats, creating a smaller, more manageable committee.

The
Senate Finance Committee is expected to keep Sen. Max Baucus, a
Montana Democrat, who was not up for re-election, as chairman. The
current ranking member, Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley, having
easily won re-election, is expected to become the ranking member on
the Judiciary Committee. Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah is
expected to replace him as the ranking member on Finance. Senate
Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, a Democrat from Vermont,
easily won his re-election bid. Importantly, Baucus and Grassley are
champions of the accounting profession’s effort to ban tax strategy
patents, and their positions on Finance and Judiciary will remain
very helpful to moving that legislation forward.

The
House Judiciary Committee will presumably be chaired by Rep. Lamar
Smith, a Texas Republican, a champion for the profession’s positions
on tax strategy patents and liability. On the Democratic side,
current Chairman John Conyers of Michigan is likely to become
ranking member unless he is challenged by a more aggressive but less
senior member.

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